That rarest of all creatures, a Liberal who gets it;
Think that Westerners hate the Liberals already; think about the fallout after this. This will play extremely BAD in the West. EXTREMELY BAD. I’m talking NEP BAD. Steven Harper and the Conservatives are the embodiment of the West overcoming decades of alienation and frustration. This coalition will rob them of this. They’ll be pissed (PISSSED). Everyone has basically acknowledged that for the party to be relevant in the future and truly be a national party, we need to be competitive in the West (wealth, people, power heading here). This puts us back another 20 years. For the sake of Liberals in the West DONT DO IT.
The numbers
At this very moment a quite literal coup d’etat is under way in Ottawa, make no mistake about this. A government elected just seven weeks ago by the people is about to be overthrown, a government with by far the broadest representation from across the nation of any political party. It breaks down as follows:
British Columbia: CPC 22 – Lib 5 – NDP 9
Prairies: CPC 49 – Lib 2 – NDP 5
Ontario: CPC 51 – Lib 38 – NDP 17
Quebec: CPC 10 – Lib 13 – NDP 1 – Ind 1
Maritimes: CPC 10 – Lib 17 – NDP 3 – Ind 1
Territories: CPC 1 – Lib 1 – NDP 1
[…]
Circa 1988 I attended a hastily called rally in Lloydminster, AB, for western separatism. Roughly 600 showed up. Hundreds of them bought memberships. People were angry, fed up, and ready to go it alone.
A couple of months later I attended another rally in the same hall, this time to hear Preston Manning. Many of the same people showed up, hundreds of them. Manning’s message was that separatism was not the answer. Rather, what was needed was “reform” of the confederation, in which the west could become an equal partner. He summed it all up with the simple mantra: The west wants in.
Hundreds scrapped their separatist memberships, and joined Preston Manning’s newly minted Reform Party. Over the ensuing decade he changed the political landscape forever. After growing pains until hell wouldn’t have any more, in 2006 Stephen Harper, one time policy guru for Preston Manning, emerged to form a minority Conservative government.
The west was finally in.
Kate – did you hear that Stephen Harper was aware of this coalition power play weeks ago – that no matter what was in any budget, bill or government motion – that the fix was in to vote non confidence and stage a coup.
Could that be why he inserted the political campaign funding measure – to give these opportunists a self serving entitlement hook so they would look selfish when the voted him down?
The clear difference between Quebec seperatist whining and Western seperatist standing.
Quebec has always wanted money from Ottawa, and played the game.
Alberta doesn’t need Ottawa’s money.
So, you attended a rally in 1988…that led to almost 2 decades in the political wilderness. Are you saying that 15 years from now the Conservatives will be elected again?
*Dalton thinks things are Tough Now, just wait!
Ontario will be Screwed More Then Ever With the Majority Monies in any Deal going to Quebec.
*Charest better Pray he wins beacause if the PQ win’s the Fix is in! the wheels are in motion for the Destruction of Canada as we Know it.
*And Danny Remember The NEP ? You just put the Boots to the People of Nfld. with all your abc shit.
Maybe Harper should replace the G.G. I was thinking about this yesterday – who would make a good G.G.?
I first thought of Preston Manning, or, keeping with the female theme, how about Deb Grey? Nice gal. I met her once after a political forum in her old riding of Beaver River when it was the Reform Party. Talked to her for about 30 minutes. (O/T: back then she told me they wanted to impliment a flat tax!)
Actually I’d prefer the Governor General be Ralph Klien just to piss off the latte crowd, but the cleanup involved as a result of exploding left-lib heads would prove to be an economic burden.
I’d also like to see premier Stelmach turn off the taps. True, the east buys their oil from the middle east, but how else could we withold money from this impending troika of drunken sailors?
side bar….I’ve been to Fort McMurry numerous times. I’ve rented an airplane once and flew over Syncrude, Suncor and a few of the smaller plants up there. If one were to total up the number of ‘smokestacks’ at all of these plants, there is NO WAY IN HELL anyone could prove to me that there is more polution being spewed from this one small city of 60,0000 than all of the factories, foundries and chemical plants in eastern Canada. What’s that? Eastern auto plants are exempt from Kyoto? My bad.
Enough already. I think its high time the razor wire gets installed along the continental divide in the Rockies and on the Sask/Man. border.
@#$% the eastern Canadian coalition of sissy boy socialists.
Kate, I’m just sick about what’s happening here, and I am afraid that without a huge outcry against this coup d’etat, it may just be succesful. I need to ask a question that I haven’t seen raised. Usually we see the GG in the purely ceremonial role and we think its a pretty benign job. For the most part many of us have chosen to ignore what a poor choice Ms. Jean was (see Ezra Levants blog). We realize that as the Queen’s representative she confers governing status on the “winning party” as a constitutional matter. This is a vestige of our history, and it’s how our British type of parliamentary system works.
1. What does the Queen have to say about this? Can she control what the GG does? Can she relieve the GG of her responsiblities and do the job herself?
2. What will compel Stephen Harper to move aside and let these traitorous fools move into the PMO’s office and change sides in the House?
I would like to hear from some of your more knowledgeable bloggers on this. Thanks
I know quite a few people in Alberta who are not supporters of the Conservative party and have voted for the Liberals (and Green party) in the past. So far, every one of them is angry about this proposed coalition because they had supported the Liberals because they believed they were fiscally conservative (something they’re abandoning by joining with the NDP) and that the Liberals stood for a strong united Canada (something they’re abandoning by joining with the Bloc).
I am starting to hope the coalition is able to pull down the government and the governor general chooses to send us into another election. I expect the Conservatives would get the majority they desired in the previous election, and the Liberals will have their worst showing in history.
Marie- yes, I agree with you. I think that Harper knew about this attempted coup, which we now know was planned months ago.
Layton-Dion-Duceppe’s agenda was to vote against a financial bill, any bill, presumably the budget in February, and take down the govt. Then, immediately offer themselves as a coalition, already geared up and ready-to-go, rather than an election.
It was a strategy to gain power without an election. Profoundly undemocratic.
I think that Harper knew – well, we know he knew – those leaked tapes of Layton’s conference all prove it – and he planned to push them into going public about their coalition. That is, their plan was to stay hidden, and then, jump in right after the February budget defeat. He called them out, so that, the public would have the right to know and choose.
He did this by his tactic of presenting a ‘fiscal update’ based around financial restrain within government. Asking the civil service to restrain their wages demands for 2 years to the same increases as in the private sector of 1.5% rather than their demands for 3 times that. Asking political parties to stop feeding off the taxpayer and return to private donations. The NDP-Lib-Bloc fell all over this and announced their coalition.
Think what they have done. This coalition sets up Canada as a colony of Quebec. NO VOTE, NO MOTION of the House will be approved without the Bloc. Nothing gets done without the Bloc. The Bloc is a party totally isolated from Canadians. The only people allowed to vote for it are in one province, Quebec. Over 80% of the Canadian electorate have no vote in their decisions. That turns us into a colony of Quebec.
Remember the US Revolution? It was against Britain making decisions about the US without Americans having any vote in the matter.
NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
That’s what’s being set up here in Canada. Taxation without representation. Government without representation. This NDP-Liberal-Bloc coalition is now signed. It’s public. They are planning to set up we Canadians as a colony of Quebec.
We need an election. And this election would have to be based on this question. Do we want freedom or do we want to be a colony? Since the NDP, Liberals, Bloc have now signed an agreement, they can’t pretend in an election to campaign only as separate and even competitive parties.
No – they’ve made it clear that they are a coalition – and that this coalition puts ONE province in control of ALL of Canada – and without any representation from Canada.
NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. Are the out of their minds?
We need an election.
The Lieberal Party is confidently marching to destruction. Please keep the road clear in front of them.
Thanks Jack, Canada owes you big time.
Born and/or raised in Quebec
Layton
Duceppe
Dion
Jean
Those having known separatist support:
Duceppe
Jean
And these are the fools that could be running the country.
This is a Quebec Coup d’etat.
I am from the Communist Capital of Windsor,ON. ruled by CAW thugs and I support Stephen Harper as do many.
Please do not give me the BS about moving out west as our presence is needed here more than ever to expose the left.
At least Judas held out for thirty pieces of silver.
The Unholy Alliance betrayed Canadian voters for $1.95
Federal website states that 25% of the Quebec provincial govt revenue comes from transfer payments from the federal govt.
That is $16 billion out of their total provincial govt revenues of $48 billion comes from taxpayers in the rest of Canada.
I want to thank Mr Duceppe for drawing attention to this fact and showing his fine business mind to the rest of Canada.
Lets see now, should I choose $16 billion or $1.95?
It’ll make negotiations in the next round of equalization payments so much easier to figure out.
That is, if Western Canada is still around to be part of them.
After all, as NDP Pat Martin so eloquently stated, this means War.
Barb Johnston says “So, you attended a rally in 1988…that led to almost 2 decades in the political wilderness. Are you saying that 15 years from now the Conservatives will be elected again?”
No, my guess would be that the Liberals and the NDP will never again be elected outside of the (soon to be) rust triangle. But then they don’t have the nads to go to an election because they know they will get slaughtered.
This Hugo Chavez coup d’état was being planned by the opposition criminals all along. This is the time for Western Canada to give the finger to Ottawa and go independent. Mark my words: after this act, designed to kill democracy in this country, Canada will split in half, and it’s been long overdue.
WHO WANTS OUT? YOU MAY BE SUPRISED!
http://poll.pollcode.com/h1p
Outrageous! Will Canada be run by a triad of power hungry idiots?
Canadians did not vote for this coalition. If these three opposition parties feel they have something to offer as a viable coalition party, then they should develop a new platform and run their candidates in the next federal election.
Under no circumstances should they be allowed to govern without first facing the electors.
john luft – I think you are correct. We must have an election.
What the NDP-Liberals-Bloc are setting up is a travesty. They are setting up Canada as a colony of Quebec. They have put one party, the party that is legally out of the electoral reach of over 80% of Canadians, that is available only to people of one province, Quebec, as the KEY to all Motions in the House.
No Motion is allowed without the Bloc’s approval.
This is setting up the Bloc as the King, the Emperor, of Canada. The Bloc must sign its agreement or – the Motion fails.
The similarity to the cause of the American Revolution is obvious; Britain was taxing Americans without allowing them a vote.
We must have an election to prevent this overthrow of democracy in Canada. We don’t want to be made a colony of Quebec!
But, the NDP-Libs-Bloc will obviously do anything to prevent an election. Anything. That’s because, since they have publicly signed an agreement that sets up Canada as a colony, the voters will be voting on that in an election. Canadians will fight for their freedom and will reject losing it.
“So, you attended a rally in 1988…that led to almost 2 decades in the political wilderness. Are you saying that 15 years from now the Conservatives will be elected again?”
When someone says something like this they clearly don’t understand a damn thing about Canadian politics. Evidently we have a Conservative party in Canada that looks nothing like the Brian Mulroney Tories of 1988. Yes it was quite painful getting where we are now, but it worked. So now, not only the west but rural Ontario, Quebec and parts of the Maritimes have some real conservative representation. If these socialist loons take the rightfully bestowed power from Harper’s minority, then everyone of those groups will be alienated from the process, and those in the west may no longer be interested in Canada. It won’t be 15 years when the Conservatives will be elected again, it will be 5 years when the Country no longer exists. Seems apparent to me that the only way to get in on the conversation as shown by Quebec is to threaten divorce!
Visiting Jack Layton’s web page (www.ndp.ca/jacklayton) this morning to send a message about my displeasure (read outrage) at his and Dion’s high-jacking of our government, lo and behold, I found Layton hasn’t changed his personal web page since before the election! (six weeks after the election strikes me as awfully slow on the uptake, but I guess he’s been busy doing other things… like conniving his way into power. And this from a guy who is promising to act more speedily on the global economic crisis?
Kind of creepy too that you can still read how he wants to be Prime Minister.
The last words on his web page remain: -“Alongside an extraordinary team of New Democrat candidates, Jack Layton is applying for a new job: Prime Minister of Canada.
A Prime Minister who’ll put you and your family first.
Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done!
Well said ET.
I have emailed the Western Provinces separation to Lorne Gunter with copies to Taliban Jack, Citoyen Dion and the marxist Duceppe.
They know (or certainly their staffs do) what is taking place out west.
They have started a separation movement and the internet is an intgral part of that movement.
Hey Simeon,
I’m down here in the gulag too. Thanks for showing me a lonely hand in a crowd of strangers. I always feel alone down here. If I don’t hear crickets when I talk about politics, it’s lefty gibberish. But I refuse to stop spreading the truth about the LEFT’S hidden agenda (Kyoto, Uncle Mo, Al Gore, CHRC, etc.).
This whole coalition crap makes me sick. No need to rehash all of the reasons better said by much smarter folk.
Point is…I’m trying my best to explain in simple terms why The Coalition of the Swilling is so bad for the country. They don’t seem to get it. And it’s not just the CAW fools (many of which are just giddy right now, by the way) it’s people I once thought intelligent.
Let them know why this is happening. How it was planned, who did it, possible outcomes, market dips (monday, sheesh!), foregn policy… Boy, the list goes on.
Go Harper, and stay strong Conservatives.
Sam.
FREE THE WEST!
Oh, and if anyone’s into purging their lunch, check out Lizzie May on CTV. So hard to see how people consider her intelligent…all gibberish.
Sam.
I’ve sent my message to each of the three local flagbearers of the major parties in my neck of the woods.
Not since the two Quebec referendums on seperation have I been this incensed with elected representatives.
To hell with the Conservative Party. To hell with the Liberal Party. To hell with the New Democratic Party.
Put Canada First.
My letter to the local flagbearers:
* * *
Mr Bruce Hyer MPP (Thunder Bay – Superior North),
The nonsense taking place on Parliament Hill has to stop.
No coalition with the seperatists.
No election call.
No proroguing the current Parliamentary session.
Our Members of Parliament were elected — what? yesterday! — to govern on behalf of the governed.
Cut the crap and get back to work. For Canada.
Find a way now, if not sooner.
Thank you,
PS:
This message has been sent to the politicians who last ran for election in the federal riding of Thunder Bay – Superior — including Bev Sarafin of the Conservatives, Don McArthur of the Liberals, and Bruce Hyer of the NDP (current, and I emphasize “current”, MPP).
And once again, I find myself a conservative. It’s been awhile since I felt any connection, but I remember why I vote Conservative and why I have supported them in the past.
This must not stand. I will not be the hostage of the separatists. I cannot recognize Dion or his heir as a legitimately elected Prime Minister. If they feel they have the votes to govern, by all means let’s go to the polls.
$300,000,000 to save $30,000,000,000 is well worth the expense.
Call an election is right.
CTV poll 12:13 p.m.
Who would you prefer to govern the country?
The Conservatives 71%
The NDP-Liberal coalition 29%
The liberals are commiting suicide…excellent…
Where is the nearest harbor, so that we from south of the border who understand and sympathize with your outrage, can give you moral support to help you throw some *tea* overboard?
(Caveat: it must be a place that is much different than the fetid liberal swamp that Boston harbor has become.)
Perhaps a river would do…
The west doesn’t want in.
The west just wants to be left alone.
Wow, that Avanish guy really thought a lot of it through. The Conservative party no longer has to wear this recession, the three stooges are more than happy to step in and take the fall.
It occurs to me, and I really find it hard to believe (but it does fit all the facts), that these three people actually believe, deeply, that what they are peddling is the answer. Despite an entire century of communist and socialist failure, everywhere it has been tried, they actually think that this time is different. That this time, the failed policies of the past will work.
The only answer I can come up with, is let them try. The only sure cure for socialism is to get even more than you thought you wanted.
Oh C’mon! If we stay united surely we’ll all receive a new car as a gift from the government after the newly proposed auto industry bailout fails and they can’t sell what they’re building! I suspect Jack is working out a deal to supply us all with Ladas!
When the west separates, I say we in western(ontario) separate from toronto and join them.
The Toronto-Quebec axis of weasels must die.
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender!
ET: “Marie- yes, I agree with you. I think that Harper knew about this attempted coup, which we now know was planned months ago. … He called them out, so that, the public would have the right to know and choose.”
I first heard this scenario over the weekend and chalked it up to desperate partisan optimism that all will turn out well. Now I’m not so sure. If (better “since”) Stephen Harper knew that serious coalition talks were occurring, he must have realized that this govt. would have a short life. I’ve always taken it as a given that if his last or current govt. was to go down on a confidence motion, he would want it to be on the basis of a rejection of conservative red-meat principles. That would explain why the economic statement emphasized staying out of deficit, elimination of taxpayer subsidies to parties, suspension of the right to strike, and economic caution in general. I also think he assumed the defeat would come with the budget, not the statement.
The fact however that he removed these red-meat elements over the weekend is the one thing that suggests miscalculation on his part. If he knew he was going to be defeated and wanted it to happen on his terms, wouldn’t he have stood his ground rather than shift it? To put it mildly, these are not his ideal conditions.
If the optimistic scenario is right, then I take it as certain that he will prorogue parliament.
If this “non confidence vote” was actually based on a conspiracy hatched long before there were any presentations by the government to have “non confidence” in do you think that is treason to overthrow the duly elected government by the conspirators?
Just asking.
Folks,
We need to take the bull by the horns and advertise to any who’ll listen that the NDP and the Bloc were planning this a long time. We need to send e-mails to every radio station and newspaper…even the dreaded CBC. Because if enough of us do this…as with Mr Steyn and MacLeans…they’ll have to report it. And it’s very hard to spin treason–because even the most left-leaning Canadian knows in his/her heart of hearts that the Bloc exists only to destroy Canada.
~~favill~~
MJ – or, do you think that Harper removed the so called conservative red meat items (which by the way are sensible measures for tough times) to prove that the opposition parties are absolutely wrong and still playing games when they say he is “ramming” policies they don’t agree with down their throats.
They complained about those measures – Harper removed them proving that he is ready and willing to work with the opposition to make parliament work and called them out again- even if they got their way 100% they still want power because it was preconceived weeks ago.
Remember Scott Reid – Martin’s henchman who was behind stabbing Chretien in the back who wrote this week about Harper “Kill him. Kill him dead.
They want Harper gone because he is such a good PM the Liberals cannot compete with him so they have to destroy him at all costs.
The Liberals are millions of dollars in debt and their power brokers have been shut outof the pork barrelling they depended on for so many years. The media loved the big lavish Liberal parties and expence accounts and career building leaks and senate seats.
Harper threatens them all because he puts Canadians first don’t you agree?
I find it hard to believe that a non-confidence motion can lead to a three party coalition running things. I found two things about this amusing, one my grandma calling them the three stooges when watching this train wreck unfold on television (she’s a traditional NDP supporter) and two the fact that the NDP and Liberals were having a news conference and then not having a news conference. They couldn’t even get the logistics of political whoring straight from Dion to Layton.
Good luck chumps. You will need it when the knives come out.
Yes Marie, though I’m not constitutional expert, this situation sounds to me like it fits the definition of treason.
TREASON : the offense of acting to overthrow one’s government or to harm or kill its sovereign.
2. a violation of allegiance to one’s sovereign or to one’s state.
3. the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery
source dictionary .com
Treason has always been considered one of the most serious of crimes and was punishable by death when other crimes were not.
Did you all notice there were no Canadian flags at this so called coalition of the swilling signing?
Do you think THAT was another concession to the BLOC?
Assuming the coallition was plotting well in advance you have to ask. Was the CPC aware of the scheme? Even as a rumour?
Known in advance or not, once the coallitions intentions were clear a more measured reaction would have been for the CPC to go straight to the Canadian public with the evidence and make their case, rather than leave us all in the dark and distracted by the partisan defunding sideshow.
Sorry but I simply do not see any master plan at work here. This was miscalulation.
Right on Marie. I think you have it exactly right about why Harper included campaign funding. That’s what I thought when I read Layton’s comments to his caucus about having discussions about this months ago. Clearly, Harper was aware of it.
I think we all may be jumping the gun here in assuming that the GG will go along with the coalition. She could just as easily order a new election. Her acceptance of the coalition isn’t a given.
Duceppe is in a no lose situation, he can get whatever he demands for the next two years and when an election is approaching he can simply separate and name his own terms. The question is how much will the rest of us have to pay.
All Liberal & NDP MP’s from Manitoba West should immediately resign and run in by elections. Ujjal Dosanjh in particular as he only won by 25 votes. Test your electorate.
Posted this on the Ralphie site but thought it could get discussed here too.
What is getting lost in all of this is that the letter to the then GG Adrienne Clarkson only asked her to consider all of her options. If a sitting Prime Minister asks the GG to disolve parliament she can grant his request and then ask the other members if they can form a coalition government, that is her discretion, but the GG has to ask first! The opposition were not asked to form a coalition by the GG therefore they have committed treason forming a coalition before being asked and by trying to usurp the power from the party that were duly elected. You trolls can dress this Coup d’tat up any way you like it but it still comes down to a subversion of the democratic process. If the GG grants these three clowns the power to rule somebody in the house should question the claim of Dion to be the next Prime Minister since I believe the Prime Minister must be selected by the House and it has always been assumed that the leader of the party with the most seats was by convention the leader of the House. Can you imagine the repercussions across this country if we elected a government that didn’t have a leader. Talk about a banana republic.
MJ — “If he knew he was going to be defeated and wanted it to happen on his terms, wouldn’t he have stood his ground rather than shift it?”
I think that if there was political calculation involved on these measures, it would have been that 1) the Lib-NDP-Bloc would huff and puff and reject what seems very reasonable to Canadians duirng the current economic crisis and 2) his government would reintroduce those measures seperately from the budget — and both would demonstrate the misplaced priorities of the other three parties.
This would play well across the country. Not just in the West and in rural Ontario, but also in cities where the NDP-Lib-Bloc alliance will split the vote.
Sometimes, when a PM has to govern with a minority, he has to take risks. I don’t like that, not at this time in this economy, and I don’t like the way the other parties have fallen so desperately for it. It is political gamesmanship.
But I cannot blame Harper for being better at the game than Layton the socialist, Dion the rejected-and-resigned, and Whats-His-Name the seperatist.
I should amend by saying that probably Whats-His-Name has managed to play his cards far better than his coalition buddies. The real conflict is between him and Harper — the other two are pawns.
BTW, Canada is not in a recession, not even a technical one. Canada boasted a 1.6% growth in October. Of course, that may all change if the Les Trois Chavez get in…
Netty, you have to go to the criminal code for definitions for treason and sedition in Canada. They are unfortunately very specific in their terms.
The Liberals had power. We were given HRDC, the Long Gun Registry, ADSCAM, and a host of other examples of incompetence, uselessness and outright theft, along with notes about other suspicious activities that the Auditor General wasn’t allowed to inspect.
The scandals arising from the Harper government include dictatorial behaviour, insufficient levels of public panic in the face of worldwide economic upheaval, not implementing the same policies as the former Liberal government, and daring Dion to pull the plug on the Conservative government (over, and over, and over…) causing Dion to look like an idiot.
Jean Cretin, La Petite Gar, choked a protester; Stephen Harper, the evil dictator, shook hands with his son to avoid embarrassing him on his first day of school.
The rise of the new Conservative party was accompanied by outrageous fearmongering from the left, including media pudits posing as reporters.
The excuse for this coalition seems to be “Harper is mean, nasty, scares your children in their beds, and isn’t like us.” Sounds much like the basic rational of coup attempts throughout history.
Listening to CKNW (in Vancouver) this morning, I just heard a young, arrogant Liberal call up and say:
1. This is perfectly democratic. In fact, it’s a fine example of democracy at work.
2. This happens all the time around the world. Canadians need to grow up.
3. Flaherty’s budget only keeps us out of deficit by selling things. It’s a perfect NeoCon joke.
——-
I won’t even dignify #1 & #2. As for the last, please tell me how a person supports a coalition set to spend (waste) $30 Billion and then condemns a party set to spend money very wisely? In the same breath, this same person criticizes the latter for being “irresponsible neocons”.
Get me the vomit bag!!!
During the “debate” Ducceppe Said “You three all want to be prime minister and you won’t be, I don’t want to be prime Minister” anyway Traitor Jack wants to install Duceppe as de-facto prime minister. There will not be a bill passed that does not suit Ducceppe, I wonder how long that charade would last? I am beyond anger and outrage, the G G had better tell the three stooges to “go to the people” or Canada as we know it is in for one hell of a ride.
Cheers Bubba